"The Marvels" Review (Spoilers)
Feb. 9th, 2024 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the first 14 episodes of the season of Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur, the latest episodes of Pixar SparkShorts, Quantum Leap, Night Court, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law & Order: Organized Crime, the novel Billy Summers, the collection A Face In The Crowd / The Longest December, and the novels Fairy Tale, and Gwendy's Final Task.
The Marvels
I loved it it. Not entirely. But mostly.
The singing planet was too far. The aliens cats eating people for transport while "Memory" played? Just far enough.
But the thing I responded to most was the teleportation fights. They were so fun.
The movie's biggest drawback is that the beginning is hard to understand. I remember the stuff from Ms. Marvel fine, but it's been awhile since I've seen both WandaVision and Captain Marvel, and the flashbacks were entirely unhelpful. It's possible people stayed away from the movie because of the homework involved before seeing it. The interconnectivity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a double-edged sword, and started working against the franchise for the first time ever. Some people probably hadn't seen Ms. Marvel or WandaVision on Disney+ yet, and skipped the movie in theaters until they did to avoid spoilers. Not the wisest idea to connect it to two previous TV shows.
The irony is, the Ms. Marvel stuff is pretty self-explanatory, which is good because she's the best thing in the movie. Her enthusiasm is infectious and the cartoon at the beginning shows the movie did better than the TV show about something important. Outside of the Pilot, Ms. Marvel forgot to be fun. It forgot Kamala Khan was a dorky kid who loved fangirling Captain Marvel and getting up to shenanigans with her new powers. The film brings the tone the Pilot set, and the rest of the series stepped away from for dark broodiness, and it's good.
I hated the fact that Monica was stranded in another Universe by the end, but then we find out it's the X-Men Universe in the tag and I turned into the Celestial Toymaker: "Well, that's all right then!"
And while the movie shows the flaws of the MCU interconnectivity, the positive is that despite the fact that the movie bombed at the box office, and there will never be another Marvels movie, it's not gonna be the last time we see the characters. One of the unfortunate aspects of The DC Extended Universe is each character's future participation was predicated entirely on box office performance. The MCU is successful enough that we can still see these characters in other movies and TV shows. If the franchise were on thinner ice I'd be more worried. But Disney can afford a bomb or two.
But the movie may have bombed at the box office, but it's a damn good movie. It's better than a LOT of lackluster Marvel stuff that made money like Quantumania, Love And Thunder, and Multiverse Of Madness. By a large margin. I think perhaps internet critics sabotaged its chances for being so upset at its diversity, which is weird because a LOT of those critics insist that their objections to characters of color are because they believe the adaptations are turning legacy white characters into them for political reasons. But Kamala and Monica are already characters of color in the comics. What exactly was the objection here? I don't see any sort of Woke Agenda for strong female characters of color being allowed to exist. I understand the argument that changing the race of legacy characters might upset purists. This movie did NOT do that, and it still raised people's ire. I'm starting to believe those types of arguments were never being made in good faith. I keep hearing "It's fine using characters of color, just keep the Legacy characters as they are." Well, this movie did that and it's supposedly too Woke anyways.
What's interesting about the complaint is that none of Carol, Monica, and Kamala's heroics feel gender-based. Maybe it's the fact that the movie doesn't make a federal case about being led by three women which is the objection. It treating it as normalcy, instead of making a direct statement, actually makes a statement. That's how I approach Gilda and Bernadette too, and I bet those same types of YouTubes critics would SAVAGE Gilda And Meek. It's a little scary to me.
They did do one acknowledgement of diversity. When Monica has to immediately learn how to fly to save Kamala's life, Nick Fury screams at her "Black Magic!". But if that moment pissed you off instead of making you smile the problem isn't the movie.
I love the MCU for always having it's share of good Skrulls. I love that very much.
Young Avengers at the end. Kate noting she is 23 is part of the problem of making that part of the movie franchise. By the time the first movie actually hits, the cast will be aging out of their roles already. Kamala is okay, but she is not in this for the long haul as the excitable kid. Frankly the MCU trying to keep Todd Holland that even after all this time is already problematic.
I love the movie. I'm sad there won't be another movie specifically of this type but I'm excited to see where the X-Men story goes, and see all three characters team up in the next Avengers films. I had a lot of fun watching this. ****1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "The Great Beyond-er!"
I seem to have totally forgotten how totally amazing this show is.
Lunella having PTSD from Molecule Man is going to make this a dramatic season.
Lunella gently braiding Beyonder's hair might go down as one of my favorite scenes in all of Marvel Animation.
I didn't wanna binge 14 episodes on launch day to guarantee a Season 3. But it's not like the show isn't already totally watchable. *****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Suit Up!"
All of Lunella's suits beg the question: Where is the toyline for this show?
I like the Hot Tomatoes. It's better I don't know where the name comes from.
I like Lunella's braids.
Cute! ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Belly Of The Beast"
Have I mentioned that this show has the best facial expressions out of ANY Marvel animated project, Spider-Verse included? Devil Dinosaur's face as he's watching them make the mess was sublime, as were his increasingly frantic reaction shots to the distractions and temptations going on around him.
In the upcoming film Avengers: Secret Wars, I believe the Beyonder will be revealed to be the Big Bad and Ultimate Evil of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Multiverse. On Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur he's the wacky sidekick.
I like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur better already. ***1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Ride Or Die"
I love subway Busking. Gives the whole thing a very city flavor.
My heart broke when Quickwhip said that Moon Girl was THEIR hero, but she wasn't HER hero. Aww!
Ridiculously G-rated version of Lady Bullseye. Complain all you want, I don't much care how we get mainstream Marvel villains, even if they are watered down. Just so long as we get them sometimes.
You can say "Amazeballs" on TV-Y7 now. DISNEY TV-Y7. Isn't civilized society great?
Sweet episode. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Kid Kree"
"By the way, I DIDN'T know it was you." This show has value for being able to find interesting and unusual ways to break my heart.
I love Kid Kree's alien design. It would be cool if he became a recurring ally, and he and Lunella team up the finale.
His Kree father accepting him is too pat and not credible, but the performances ALMOST sold it. It's more believable than it SHOULD be because of them.
I love Lunella and Marvin working through their crap.
This is all good stuff. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Wish-Tar"
I really love the fact that the Beyonder is genuinely hurt when Lunella asks him to go away. I think for the first time he was genuinely trying to help. I felt bad for him.
I realize now what his design and mannerisms sort of remind me of. A multijointed version of Dr. Seuss' the Grinch (the Chuck Jones version). Slippery as an eel is that one.
I feel bad for the Beyonder. Which is cool. ***1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Make It, Don't Break It!"
That sucked. Notable because so few episodes of the show do.
My biggest objection and the reason I knew I'd dislike it was the infodump Lunella gives about Wakanda at the beginning. That information is entirely for the benefit of audience members unfamiliar with Marvel Comics lore. Everyone in the classroom actually already knows the information Lunella is excitedly telling them. The character is speaking in an unbelievably unrealistic fashion due solely to poor writing. Now Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur is a kids cartoon, and as a rule almost all of those have their share of that. But this struck enough of a bad chord with me to note. The show is not usually that sucky.
Ojo is the worst. I have taken unpleasant notice that invariably whenever a Marvel show or cartoon has a random Wakandan character show up, they are almost always portrayed as an elitist snob. Her coming around at the end is done to comfort the kids in the audience about her abuse, but the reality is she sucks, and it on-brand for how Marvel tries to portray that society. I think Marvel got it into its head that so much of white American culture looks down on other races and nationalities, it's provocative to turn that on its head with Black characters. This is a narrative mistake. At least if Marvel actually wants viewers and readers to like the concept of Wakanda and root for Black Panther. Making it a nation of sociopaths pushes a certain political button against white supremacy for sure, but it sure as hell damages a franchise designed to sell comic books to little kids. This is not actually fun. Whenever we get a glimpse of Wakanda outside of Black Panther and Avengers stuff, it's invariably a lecture on how the rest of the heroes do not measure up to it. Again, this is a mistake.
Marvel has this weird idea that the best way to create conflict between heroes is to make a bunch of them type-A loathsome sociopaths. I guess one of DC Comics strengths is that whenever it has a character like that, like Constantine or Guy Gardner, the behavior is shown as wrong and a failing. It's not ever a REAL source of conflict between the legit heroes. Marvel has characters like Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, the Human Torch, and Cyclops be utterly irredeemable bastards because they somehow think there is no other real way to create character conflict between heroes. I believe Marvel Comics believes their stable of characters are less interesting than they actually are. I am never gonna agree with them about this.
Mae Jemison isn't voicing LOS this season. That is very disappointing.
A rare failure. The irony to me is that most of the failings of the episode had to do with deep seated problems already present in other Marvel media. Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur may be the best Marvel TV cartoon of all time. It's doesn't stop it from being a Marvel cartoon. And that franchise has problematic stuff built into it from the ground up. *.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "The Devil You Know"
The facial expressions on the animals were amazing.
I love that the day-glo music montage at the end belongs to Devil for the first time. And his power ballad is country because apparently the producers decided the show simply wasn't weird enough.
But the goat being unable to discuss his former master for legal reasons shows they are attacking that specific weakness in a multi-pronged approach.
The super unearned happy ending is credible only because the goat doesn't get to share it. Whatever his backstory is, lawyers are involved. There are no misunderstandings to be had.
I'll say this before I close the review: Devil is right to be pissed at Lunella slow-walking the reveal to her family. If she had parents like Kamala Khan's, who were always judging her and making her feel like a disappointment, that would be one thing, but Lunella's entire family is nothing but funky and wonderful. Devil is right to be miffed at Lunella for not trusting THAT healthy dynamic with the truth, especially because as long as she refuses to, Devil himself does not get to participate in it or enjoy it. And he really should be able to. That's not fair to him.
The episode was both a little bit funny and a little bit insane. My kind of episode. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Dog Day Mid-Afternoon"
Very happy.
A LOT of people love it when shows bust hoary old tropes. And I kind of see why. But it doesn't much impress ME. You're still using the trope, just putting a spin on it. This episode is great because the "spin" is so bizarre you realize they weren't even using that trope at all.
The famous trope we recognize is the secretly sinister pet that only one person knows is evil and is never believed. The episode already gives us so many noticeable differences. In most projects the person noticing Franklin's shadiness would be Devil Dinosaur. The truth-sayer is always the old pet. Here it's Moon Girl. Moreover a LOT of the old pet's concern comes from a fear of replacement and jealously. And usually the new owners DO seem to prefer the new evil pet. That's not the case with Pops and Lunella. Thirdly, the evil pet always frames the good pet for their crimes leading the owners to practically disown the original good pet. Also not a factor. Mickey Mouse and Pluto invented the trope, and it's been in various cartoon in the ensuing decades. Going on damn near a century.
Here it turns out Franklin is GOOD. And he IS alien, voiced by David Tennant. And the shady evil mind control business Lunella thinks he's doing is something he's actually trying to stop. It's like the story starts out as "Pluto's Rival" turns in Buffy The Vampire Slayer's "The Puppet Show" out of the blue. I approve of crazy crap like that.
The Day-glo montage song was great (had sort of a Bowie flavor), and I loved the dog pun counter (reminded me of South Park's s-word episode). And of course the blue doghouse spaceship at the end suspiciously resembles the TARDIS. It would be weird if it didn't.
That was great. ****1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "In The Heist"
Yeah, I knew that was Peter Weller.
Cecilia's character design is super expressive.
Lunella and Marvin are so cute together.
Fun heist episode. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Roller Jam!"
Here's the great thing about the show. The Lafayettes don't own a roller rink because they are blue collar. It's because they are livin' the dream! The producers decided to make sure the audience understands Lunella's entire family is cool and funky.
Here's something else cool. The episode addresses both racism and gentrification, but because it's for little kids, it does so in an empowering, rather than upsetting, manner. I find that refreshing.
Admit it though. The feud's kinda dumb. ***1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Dancing With Myself"
I will admit I don't watch a ton of shows with protagonists this young. But I've seen a few. This is the first one I've seen suggest the true moral that dating pressures for kids that young is ridiculous and you are allowed to be a kid. This is why I find the Nickelodeon and Disney Channel trashy kidcoms so problematic. This show says "Nope you can be a kid and that's okay." That is AWESOME. That should never be dismissed.
I love the end credits. Seriously, what's up with his hairline, bro?
Interesting note: When Lunella is searching for a date she notices a girl seems currently unattached. This suggest Lunella is bisexual. Thought that moment was cool and worth pointing out.
Why can't more kids show actually have good messaging for kids? ****1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Family Matters"
The cliffhanger is great because it's actually earned. Take note other superhero stuff. This is how that's done.
I've actually heard of Silvermane.
Eminently satisfying episode. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "The Molecular Level"
Good for the show for not buying back the cliffhanger in the first scene.
I love Lunella redeeming Molecule Man. I also found his observation that she was the only thing the Beyonder cared about very interesting. I was sad he didn't appear when Lunella needed him. Maybe because she actually didn't.
Uncertain ending there for Lunella's future. Or is it? Will Mom come around? She'd be crazy if she didn't. ****.
SparkShorts "Self"
I'm going to go off on a bit of a rant here, and it's this unfortunate, "harmless" life-affirming short that gets my ire. Tough break. It could have happened the Pixar review before this. It could have happened several reviews from now. This happened to be the moment I said, "Enough".
I think exploring social issues in animation is a wonderful idea. Which Disney and Pixar have utterly run into the ground and ruined for me. Dramatic shorts used to have SUCH an impact, and tug at the heartstrings so much because they were rare and unusual. This is literally every Pixar and Disney Studios shorts now. Almost none of them even have dialogue. If I were tackling a serious subject matter, the last thing I'd want is for the viewer to find it cliched or run into the ground. I don't want people to find anti-racist subject matter boring. But Disney has given us SO much of this "Nice Thing" it's stopped being "Nice" and turned "Dreadful".
Disney used to be The House Of Mouse. Now it is The House Of The Depressed Prozac Blob. What the hell has happened to this company? And Pixar, man? Their shorts used to be fun and dynamite! Why should I appreciate a cartoon series that does nothing but make me feel bad?
I have prejudices. I have to work on them. Kids have prejudices and need to be taught right and wrong young. This is an overcorrection here. It wouldn't be if it weren't EVERY last short. Because it is I have to speak up. I never wanted to.
Do you know what it is? Manipulative. I sure as hell didn't give Forrest Gump a pass for that crap and I won't give it to Pixar either. Can you believe the studio that sicced John Lasseter's grossness onto the world and called it childlike whimsy has the GALL to pretend it truly cares about diversity and love? It is to LAUGH. Do they give out Academy Awards for raging insincerity and hypocrisy? Pixar would dominate the field. For Your Consideration...
SparkShorts and Short Circuit were designed to supposedly give new animators license to try new and experimental things. And all they do is tell the same damn story over and over again. I'll say this: This does not fill me with hope about Disney's Next Generation. It fills me with kind of a sick dread.
Grr! I'm not that Anti-Woke Guy. I'm an Anti-Everything-Is-Always-The-Same Guy. Where is the variety we were promised? I feel robbed and at this point angry. 0.
Quantum Leap "Off The Cuff"
It was pretty good. The action scenes were tight and Kevin was kind of a funny guest character.
I still hate the love quadrangle though. ***1/2.
Quantum Leap "The Family Treasure"
I think it was dreadful.
Quantum Leap used to often feel like an Afterschool Special. This was just that piled on top of that at the end.
So maybe Tom isn't evil. Which means the Love Triangle is bad for the opposite reason: It means Addison is using and hurting HIM for the crime of being introduced in the second season.
It amazes me how bad fiction is with this sort of thing. What especially amazes me is that fans tolerate it instead of raising a stink. And I don't mean the usual "Aw, Tom's wrecking Baddison!" I'm talking about people who actually know love triangles are used by shows that have run out interesting things to say and do with their romantic leads. It's especially troubling it hit Quantum Leap in season 2. I really wish people understood how bad this is for narrative fiction, and more, I wish they understood they deserve better. This will probably upset people. But not for the right reasons. And I think if fans correctly articulated that the trope is used by desperate shows running out of gas, maybe showrunners would be less inclined to make it their go-to instead. There are other ways to make a TV show interesting. It's amazing none of current TV understands that.
This sucks. *.
Night Court "A Crime Of Fashion"
I could tell by the studio audience applause the guy was from The Big Bang Theory.
I don't have much commentary this week, but it was not terrible. ***1/2.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit "Duty To Report"
I don't know how to feel about that. On some level that's good. But man, a LOT of stuff happened that pissed me off. It's such a pleasant surprise at the positive place the episode left things off on. I kept thinking the SVU department was getting out of control.
McGrath has been running roughshod all over the series ever since he replaced Garland. His wife accuses Liv of trying to get him fired to take his job, because that is EXACTLY what he did to the competent and empathetic Garland. It was obscene. And seeing this jackass in the role he took from a compassionate Black man, as he steamrolls through the squad every week, and jeopardizes every investigation was painful to me. I think the season where Demore Barnes was a series regular was probably the series high point for me. It addressed unfairness in policing practices. The McGrath turn I believe happened when the producers realized nothing actually was going to change after George Floyd, and NYPD was gonna dig in, and things would get worse, not better. That's how we got McGrath. But I remember the hopefulness of Garland telling Finn he believed they were at "an inflection point" and that's why that remained my favorite season.
Curry, investigating Liv was a big part of that. The thing I dug most about Curry is she made Liv understand something I think most white liberals are unable to admit or process: Having racial bias is not something to be defensive about or deny. It's ingrained in all of us. And it's not just white people. Liv refused to entertain the notion that her actions in that episode were based on race, when yeah, they were. Maybe not consciously, and maybe not intentionally. But I admired Curry for putting the idea in a white ally's head that just because they are an ally doesn't mean they don't have privilege that blinds them sometimes. Many white allies are SO against racism that to even suggest they themselves have those biases gets a stronger pushback than warranted. I think everyone has problems there. For some reason white allies have a VERY strong hang-up about it, and definitely are far more defensive about it than the situation calls for. And Curry's chill. And I'll enjoy her in the SVU. And the idea that they can clear cases without McGrath looking over their shoulder is fun.
In the early seasons of SVU IAB were the bad guys. Around the time Garland came aboard, and Curry was introduced, they became the good guys. Back in the day they used to accuse detectives of things they were NOT guilty of when reprimanding them for things that they were, which led the viewer believe the "rat squad" was corrupt itself and looking to railroad good cops. And God bless the show for changing both the function of IAB on the show and their role in the narrative.
I felt very unhappy that McGrath was given the scene of grace at the end he was where he shook Liv's hand. It very much felt like the show was saying this is his last episode and wanted his actor (who has been on the show a few years) a little dignity and a nice last scene. But that and Liv earlier saying she respected him grated at me. Him threatening to kill a suspect could sustain an IAB plot lasting half a season. Pulling on a gun on his neighbor in front of Liv? I'm tired of people like McGrath getting where they have gotten in the NYPD. Liv? He is NOT a good cop. Not remotely. Good cops don't do that. And doesn't that make you wonder what crap he pulled on the force when people like Liv WEREN'T watching? McGrath has been messing up the rhythm of Law & Order's most delicate squadroom with his buffoonery. Last episode or not, I don't like him ever getting those kinds of compliments from Liv.
I would love it if eventually Garland came back, but it's possible Demore Barnes left the show because HE wanted to move on. But when he was Chief the show was working on every level. No matter happens next, McGrath being gone will help, and Curry being on the squad will help a LOT. I think the episode both HAD a lot of problems and it SOLVED a lot of problems. It annoyed me, but the show will be better off in the long run for the things that happened in it. ****.
Law & Order: Organized Crime "The Last Supper"
This would have made a good crossover. Not with SVU, but American Dad. I can totally picture Roger Smith punctuating each scene with a thunder sheet while flicking the lights on and off while saying "Drama!" I feel like the episode is missing something from Roger's absence here.
Good God, the Stabler dinner. To find out the brother ratted out the father made me like him. The REASON he did it, and the fact that Elliot was too dumb to know ANY of this, made me love him. Their scene at the end making up was great. Story for another day? Elliot's father must have committed suicide.
The girl in the episode was pissing me off but it turns out the son had his own problems too. I will say this: All three of the witnesses in protective custody survived. I think the Bureau had SO many outstanding cautions in place to make sure they did even if the daughter messed up I was impressed. And it makes the fact that literally every single time a witness is placed into protective custody on the relaunched mothershow, the incompetent detectives always wind up getting them killed. I guess the real reason I dropped Rick Eid's version of Law & Order is because it's so clearly inferior to SVU and this show in easily measurable and quantifiable ways, there's really no reason to keep watching it while I have these shows.
"Drama!" *****.
Billy Summers by Stephen King
It's a rare novel that King seems to be writing in a voice other than his own. He's usually not able to do that. Most of his first person and third person narrators sound like variations of him. Billy doesn't narrate much of the book besides the chapters he writes, but when King writes from his perspective in the third person, the writing becomes simpler, somewhat childish, and detailed-oriented, specifically precautions a criminal would take that regular people would never notice. Some of it is no doubt paranoia and overcorrection, but the bad guys WERE really out to get him, weren't they? Probably why he got as far as he did.
I like his friendship with Bucky. I especially like that Bucky asks Alice if Billy really called him a bad man. He's sounds disappointed, but the thing is, it's true, and something Alice needed to hear.
As he's gotten older King has gotten a lot less gross in his writing. 20 years ago Billy and Alice would have consummated things as some sort of middle-aged wish fulfillment on King's end. He properly has Billy set the correct boundaries instead.
What Billy does to Tripp is not something I find remotely acceptable or any kind of justice. That is one thing there can never be "an eye for an eye" about.
King Connections: The ruins of the Overlook Hotel from The Shining can be seen and it's mentioned it was haunted. Billy and Alice stop in Hemingford Home, Nebraska. Another young woman near her age ALSO named Alice Maxwell was a main character in the novel "Cell". It's possible this novel's Alice is her Twinner on a different level of the Dark Tower, although the timelines might not match up (even though the exact year "Cell" was set was never specified).
I think King did a relatively poor job with simple hard-boiled prose in "Mr. Mercedes". "Billy Summers" is more successful there. ****.
A Face In The Crowd / The Longest December
A turn-around hardcover double-pack of a novella from Stephen King and Steward O'Nan, and one from Richard Chizmar, from Cemetery Dance Publications. Overall: ***.
A Face In The Crowd by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan
The problem with this short story is that the main character Evers is SUCH an unlikable jerk. The only thing he did in the story I liked was telling Kaz they should have been nicer to Lester or left him alone.
It's a shortish novella, but it's not very good. You want a GOOD King / O'Nan team-up, read the nonfiction book "Faithful". **1/2.
The Longest December (Expanded Version) by Richard Chizmar
It's a pretty fast and interesting read, but the truth is it ends too suddenly and I feel unsatisfied with the lack of closure. It reminds me of the Stephen King novella "A Good Marriage", only King's version satisfied me. I enjoy reading it but I don't like where it leaves off. A weak ending can ruin an otherwise strong story. ***.
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
It's a charming as hell book. King doesn't do enough fantasy for my liking, or at least not fantasy that isn't as ghastly as "The Dark Tower" was in places. This one, like "The Eyes Of The Dragon", is a real crowdpleaser. Unlike "The Eyes Of The Dragon" it's adults only. Which is fine.
Charlie Reade, the protagonist, narrates the book himself, and I mentioned in the review for "Billy Summers" that most of King's male viewpoint characters sound exactly like him, no matter their age. And yes, that's true for Charlie too. I don't know if that a storytelling weakness per se. Let's just call it a consistency.
I love Charlie's devotion to Radar. And despite the fantasy trappings here, the King story this REALLY reminds me of is "Mr. Harrigan's Phone". Bowditch is a far more contemptible character than Harrigan was, but in fairness to this book, once Harrigan exits his story, I lose interest. When Bowditch exits his is when the fun begins.
I like the fact that Charlie acknowledges that his deeds and actions make him seem like a prototypical boy adventure hero, and he reminds the reader that he has done some terrible things no hero should ever do, to explain the heartless but righteous choices he is forced to make as the story goes along. If Charlie were a better person, he'd probably be dead. His inner demons were the thing that kept him alive in the worst of those situations.
King Connections: KIND of weird one. "Cujo" is mentioned as a film (which isn't unusual). But besides the "other worlds than these" shtick, the references to "The Dark Tower" get kind of murky when Charlie claims his father learned the expression "Long days and pleasant nights," from a book. I was like "What the Keystone Earth?!" Also Inside View, although that one is pretty much as much of a gimme, as Castle Rock, Derry, and Hemingford Home.
King writes good books often but satisfying books less often. I think the push for the fairytale happy ending is probably what made him go the extra mile for a satisfying conclusion. And as a person who loves satisfying endings, and believes fiction doesn't deliver enough of them, that makes me happy.
Pretty cool book by Sai King. ****1/2.
Gwendy's Final Task by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
Worth it. Totally worth it.
I'll tell you where Stephen King messed up. And it's a biggie. But the cool thing is I can just pretend he didn't. It's ambiguous enough to be left open to interpretation. But Richard Farris (R.F.) was originally designed to be one of Randall Flagg's MANY aliases. As this book came to pass King decided that because Farris needed to be on the side of The White after all, R.F. is just a meaningless coincidence.
It's like King doesn't understand his own damn canon.
"There are other worlds than these". The idea that there are levels of the Dark Tower where Randall Flagg / Walter O'Dim / Marten Broadcloak's Twinner is on the side of angels is built into the premise of Kingverse Multiverse! And it's a wonderful and interesting premise that King himself should have leapt at. Somewhere out there exists a GOOD Randall Flagg to balance out the bad one! It's a perfect idea, and just because King lacks the wisdom to use it, doesn't mean I won't pretend it's true. Nothing disproves the theory here, and in fact the hands without lines and Gwendy touching him feeling bad feeds into it.
I recently wrote an essay bemoaning how bad fan suggestions were. But we are HELLA good at Marvel No-Prize-level excuses / rationalizations for clear mistakes. Creators: Maybe don't listen to us for suggestions about future projects. But we're totally willing to clean up messes for you in hindsight. You don't even have to ask. Or pay us. We'll do it automatically and for free. Because fandom isn't ENTIRELY worthless.
I think my biggest damn objection to the book is that King's politics already feel dated, especially for a book set in 2026. I grant that Gwendy's Magic Feather and the pyramids things proves this doesn't exist on Keystone Earth. But the politics feel wrong for the age of Trump too. King has always been a well-meaning liberal, but his understanding of politics is very basic. Maine is a blue state at the state level. A MAGA Republican could not get elected Senator there in the 2010's. Granted Former Governor Paul LePage was pretty extreme, but he didn't win the majority of vote either time, and squeaked by twice solely due to a third party spoiler. I think King lives in a VERY conservative area of Maine which leads him to believe the state is redder than is. Yes Trump got one of Maine's electoral votes twice. But he still decisively lost the state based on vote percentages. Both times. I think King is under the mistaken impression he state is more Republican than it is. King should spend less time in diners chatting up folks in red hats and maybe look at the voter trends on 538.com.
Speaking of voting trends, King's political prognostication is poor on every level. He predicts that Trump's election was a conservative realignment instead of blip, but Democrats have won most of the major elections since then (outside of Virginia's governorship in 2021). He also suggests the Vice-President in 2026 is male, well-meaning, and stupid. I will concede it's possible (and maybe probable) that in 2026 the Vice-President will be one of those things (or worst case scenario two). Them being ALL of those things is freaking unlikely. Plus, remember the crazy president from Magic Feather? If Bill Clinton was never elected, it's possible Roe V Wade was already overturned, and Trump never could have gotten elected at ALL. King never seems to think about or plot out nuances like this when it comes to alternate universes and histories. His doomsday scenario in 11/22/63 sounds horrifying, but unlikely in the recent living memory of WWII and Hiroshima. Chizmar should know better about this stuff too.
I guess as someone on the left, I always am fascinated by how many of the people on my side of the aisle misread the cultural mood and get things wrong. I think we tend to believe we are always in worse shape than we actually are. I'm just saying it would be nice if the speculative politics or a book set in 2026 would seem credible back in 2023 when this book was released, much less 2024 when I wrote this review. I know political prognostication is tough work but it's hard to believe somebody is THIS far off even two years before it happens.
I guess the fact that this ISN'T Keystone Earth raises even MORE questions beside just the politics. If this isn't Keystone Earth (and it isn't) why does the Tet Corporation exist? Sombra too? I was never crazy that 11/22/63 retconned the idea that Derry was a healing town after the Loser killed IT for good in 1986 and suggested the two itself was perceived as gross and obscene by any outsider who visited. But I rolled with it because that bit WAS set in the early 1960's way before IT was truly vanquished. The clown supposedly still being around in 2026 suggests one of two things: Ben Hanscomb missed one of the eggs. I find the notion unlikely, although "Dreamcatcher" and "The Tommyknockers" lend SOME weight to the idea. More likely on this level of the Dark Tower, the Loser failed, IT killed them all, and never went away. That is both likelier and easier for me to accept. There was no part of IT's ending that was remotely acceptable. The idea that they didn't get Pennywise after all? Won't accept that retcon for a second.
Also sloppy is suggesting Gwendy's second Congressional term takes place in 2003. "Gwendy's Magic Feather" (which details her first term) takes place in the mid-1990's. Robin Furth should have caught this even though Magic Feather was written by Chizmar alone.
King Connections: "IT" and "The Dark Tower". Final book in the Gwendy trilogy. Dark Score Lake is from "Bag Of Bones". R.F. (Counting it Uncle Stevie, and you can't stop me). Castle Rock. Norris Ridgewick was introduced in "Needful Things". A lot of the Can-Tois' and the cars' backstory can be learned in "Low Men In Yellow Coats" and "From A Buick 8".
I love a book that I can both nitpick, and come up with alternate explanations for seeming mistakes. And Gwendy Peterson is SUCH an appealing character for me I'm willing to go that extra mile on her behalf. Not everything is gonna line up perfectly in my headcanon here. But for a LOT of it, I'm willing to move some stuff around. It's all clutter to me anyways. ****1/2.
The Marvels
I loved it it. Not entirely. But mostly.
The singing planet was too far. The aliens cats eating people for transport while "Memory" played? Just far enough.
But the thing I responded to most was the teleportation fights. They were so fun.
The movie's biggest drawback is that the beginning is hard to understand. I remember the stuff from Ms. Marvel fine, but it's been awhile since I've seen both WandaVision and Captain Marvel, and the flashbacks were entirely unhelpful. It's possible people stayed away from the movie because of the homework involved before seeing it. The interconnectivity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a double-edged sword, and started working against the franchise for the first time ever. Some people probably hadn't seen Ms. Marvel or WandaVision on Disney+ yet, and skipped the movie in theaters until they did to avoid spoilers. Not the wisest idea to connect it to two previous TV shows.
The irony is, the Ms. Marvel stuff is pretty self-explanatory, which is good because she's the best thing in the movie. Her enthusiasm is infectious and the cartoon at the beginning shows the movie did better than the TV show about something important. Outside of the Pilot, Ms. Marvel forgot to be fun. It forgot Kamala Khan was a dorky kid who loved fangirling Captain Marvel and getting up to shenanigans with her new powers. The film brings the tone the Pilot set, and the rest of the series stepped away from for dark broodiness, and it's good.
I hated the fact that Monica was stranded in another Universe by the end, but then we find out it's the X-Men Universe in the tag and I turned into the Celestial Toymaker: "Well, that's all right then!"
And while the movie shows the flaws of the MCU interconnectivity, the positive is that despite the fact that the movie bombed at the box office, and there will never be another Marvels movie, it's not gonna be the last time we see the characters. One of the unfortunate aspects of The DC Extended Universe is each character's future participation was predicated entirely on box office performance. The MCU is successful enough that we can still see these characters in other movies and TV shows. If the franchise were on thinner ice I'd be more worried. But Disney can afford a bomb or two.
But the movie may have bombed at the box office, but it's a damn good movie. It's better than a LOT of lackluster Marvel stuff that made money like Quantumania, Love And Thunder, and Multiverse Of Madness. By a large margin. I think perhaps internet critics sabotaged its chances for being so upset at its diversity, which is weird because a LOT of those critics insist that their objections to characters of color are because they believe the adaptations are turning legacy white characters into them for political reasons. But Kamala and Monica are already characters of color in the comics. What exactly was the objection here? I don't see any sort of Woke Agenda for strong female characters of color being allowed to exist. I understand the argument that changing the race of legacy characters might upset purists. This movie did NOT do that, and it still raised people's ire. I'm starting to believe those types of arguments were never being made in good faith. I keep hearing "It's fine using characters of color, just keep the Legacy characters as they are." Well, this movie did that and it's supposedly too Woke anyways.
What's interesting about the complaint is that none of Carol, Monica, and Kamala's heroics feel gender-based. Maybe it's the fact that the movie doesn't make a federal case about being led by three women which is the objection. It treating it as normalcy, instead of making a direct statement, actually makes a statement. That's how I approach Gilda and Bernadette too, and I bet those same types of YouTubes critics would SAVAGE Gilda And Meek. It's a little scary to me.
They did do one acknowledgement of diversity. When Monica has to immediately learn how to fly to save Kamala's life, Nick Fury screams at her "Black Magic!". But if that moment pissed you off instead of making you smile the problem isn't the movie.
I love the MCU for always having it's share of good Skrulls. I love that very much.
Young Avengers at the end. Kate noting she is 23 is part of the problem of making that part of the movie franchise. By the time the first movie actually hits, the cast will be aging out of their roles already. Kamala is okay, but she is not in this for the long haul as the excitable kid. Frankly the MCU trying to keep Todd Holland that even after all this time is already problematic.
I love the movie. I'm sad there won't be another movie specifically of this type but I'm excited to see where the X-Men story goes, and see all three characters team up in the next Avengers films. I had a lot of fun watching this. ****1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "The Great Beyond-er!"
I seem to have totally forgotten how totally amazing this show is.
Lunella having PTSD from Molecule Man is going to make this a dramatic season.
Lunella gently braiding Beyonder's hair might go down as one of my favorite scenes in all of Marvel Animation.
I didn't wanna binge 14 episodes on launch day to guarantee a Season 3. But it's not like the show isn't already totally watchable. *****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Suit Up!"
All of Lunella's suits beg the question: Where is the toyline for this show?
I like the Hot Tomatoes. It's better I don't know where the name comes from.
I like Lunella's braids.
Cute! ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Belly Of The Beast"
Have I mentioned that this show has the best facial expressions out of ANY Marvel animated project, Spider-Verse included? Devil Dinosaur's face as he's watching them make the mess was sublime, as were his increasingly frantic reaction shots to the distractions and temptations going on around him.
In the upcoming film Avengers: Secret Wars, I believe the Beyonder will be revealed to be the Big Bad and Ultimate Evil of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Multiverse. On Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur he's the wacky sidekick.
I like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur better already. ***1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Ride Or Die"
I love subway Busking. Gives the whole thing a very city flavor.
My heart broke when Quickwhip said that Moon Girl was THEIR hero, but she wasn't HER hero. Aww!
Ridiculously G-rated version of Lady Bullseye. Complain all you want, I don't much care how we get mainstream Marvel villains, even if they are watered down. Just so long as we get them sometimes.
You can say "Amazeballs" on TV-Y7 now. DISNEY TV-Y7. Isn't civilized society great?
Sweet episode. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Kid Kree"
"By the way, I DIDN'T know it was you." This show has value for being able to find interesting and unusual ways to break my heart.
I love Kid Kree's alien design. It would be cool if he became a recurring ally, and he and Lunella team up the finale.
His Kree father accepting him is too pat and not credible, but the performances ALMOST sold it. It's more believable than it SHOULD be because of them.
I love Lunella and Marvin working through their crap.
This is all good stuff. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Wish-Tar"
I really love the fact that the Beyonder is genuinely hurt when Lunella asks him to go away. I think for the first time he was genuinely trying to help. I felt bad for him.
I realize now what his design and mannerisms sort of remind me of. A multijointed version of Dr. Seuss' the Grinch (the Chuck Jones version). Slippery as an eel is that one.
I feel bad for the Beyonder. Which is cool. ***1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Make It, Don't Break It!"
That sucked. Notable because so few episodes of the show do.
My biggest objection and the reason I knew I'd dislike it was the infodump Lunella gives about Wakanda at the beginning. That information is entirely for the benefit of audience members unfamiliar with Marvel Comics lore. Everyone in the classroom actually already knows the information Lunella is excitedly telling them. The character is speaking in an unbelievably unrealistic fashion due solely to poor writing. Now Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur is a kids cartoon, and as a rule almost all of those have their share of that. But this struck enough of a bad chord with me to note. The show is not usually that sucky.
Ojo is the worst. I have taken unpleasant notice that invariably whenever a Marvel show or cartoon has a random Wakandan character show up, they are almost always portrayed as an elitist snob. Her coming around at the end is done to comfort the kids in the audience about her abuse, but the reality is she sucks, and it on-brand for how Marvel tries to portray that society. I think Marvel got it into its head that so much of white American culture looks down on other races and nationalities, it's provocative to turn that on its head with Black characters. This is a narrative mistake. At least if Marvel actually wants viewers and readers to like the concept of Wakanda and root for Black Panther. Making it a nation of sociopaths pushes a certain political button against white supremacy for sure, but it sure as hell damages a franchise designed to sell comic books to little kids. This is not actually fun. Whenever we get a glimpse of Wakanda outside of Black Panther and Avengers stuff, it's invariably a lecture on how the rest of the heroes do not measure up to it. Again, this is a mistake.
Marvel has this weird idea that the best way to create conflict between heroes is to make a bunch of them type-A loathsome sociopaths. I guess one of DC Comics strengths is that whenever it has a character like that, like Constantine or Guy Gardner, the behavior is shown as wrong and a failing. It's not ever a REAL source of conflict between the legit heroes. Marvel has characters like Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, the Human Torch, and Cyclops be utterly irredeemable bastards because they somehow think there is no other real way to create character conflict between heroes. I believe Marvel Comics believes their stable of characters are less interesting than they actually are. I am never gonna agree with them about this.
Mae Jemison isn't voicing LOS this season. That is very disappointing.
A rare failure. The irony to me is that most of the failings of the episode had to do with deep seated problems already present in other Marvel media. Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur may be the best Marvel TV cartoon of all time. It's doesn't stop it from being a Marvel cartoon. And that franchise has problematic stuff built into it from the ground up. *.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "The Devil You Know"
The facial expressions on the animals were amazing.
I love that the day-glo music montage at the end belongs to Devil for the first time. And his power ballad is country because apparently the producers decided the show simply wasn't weird enough.
But the goat being unable to discuss his former master for legal reasons shows they are attacking that specific weakness in a multi-pronged approach.
The super unearned happy ending is credible only because the goat doesn't get to share it. Whatever his backstory is, lawyers are involved. There are no misunderstandings to be had.
I'll say this before I close the review: Devil is right to be pissed at Lunella slow-walking the reveal to her family. If she had parents like Kamala Khan's, who were always judging her and making her feel like a disappointment, that would be one thing, but Lunella's entire family is nothing but funky and wonderful. Devil is right to be miffed at Lunella for not trusting THAT healthy dynamic with the truth, especially because as long as she refuses to, Devil himself does not get to participate in it or enjoy it. And he really should be able to. That's not fair to him.
The episode was both a little bit funny and a little bit insane. My kind of episode. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Dog Day Mid-Afternoon"
Very happy.
A LOT of people love it when shows bust hoary old tropes. And I kind of see why. But it doesn't much impress ME. You're still using the trope, just putting a spin on it. This episode is great because the "spin" is so bizarre you realize they weren't even using that trope at all.
The famous trope we recognize is the secretly sinister pet that only one person knows is evil and is never believed. The episode already gives us so many noticeable differences. In most projects the person noticing Franklin's shadiness would be Devil Dinosaur. The truth-sayer is always the old pet. Here it's Moon Girl. Moreover a LOT of the old pet's concern comes from a fear of replacement and jealously. And usually the new owners DO seem to prefer the new evil pet. That's not the case with Pops and Lunella. Thirdly, the evil pet always frames the good pet for their crimes leading the owners to practically disown the original good pet. Also not a factor. Mickey Mouse and Pluto invented the trope, and it's been in various cartoon in the ensuing decades. Going on damn near a century.
Here it turns out Franklin is GOOD. And he IS alien, voiced by David Tennant. And the shady evil mind control business Lunella thinks he's doing is something he's actually trying to stop. It's like the story starts out as "Pluto's Rival" turns in Buffy The Vampire Slayer's "The Puppet Show" out of the blue. I approve of crazy crap like that.
The Day-glo montage song was great (had sort of a Bowie flavor), and I loved the dog pun counter (reminded me of South Park's s-word episode). And of course the blue doghouse spaceship at the end suspiciously resembles the TARDIS. It would be weird if it didn't.
That was great. ****1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "In The Heist"
Yeah, I knew that was Peter Weller.
Cecilia's character design is super expressive.
Lunella and Marvin are so cute together.
Fun heist episode. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Roller Jam!"
Here's the great thing about the show. The Lafayettes don't own a roller rink because they are blue collar. It's because they are livin' the dream! The producers decided to make sure the audience understands Lunella's entire family is cool and funky.
Here's something else cool. The episode addresses both racism and gentrification, but because it's for little kids, it does so in an empowering, rather than upsetting, manner. I find that refreshing.
Admit it though. The feud's kinda dumb. ***1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Dancing With Myself"
I will admit I don't watch a ton of shows with protagonists this young. But I've seen a few. This is the first one I've seen suggest the true moral that dating pressures for kids that young is ridiculous and you are allowed to be a kid. This is why I find the Nickelodeon and Disney Channel trashy kidcoms so problematic. This show says "Nope you can be a kid and that's okay." That is AWESOME. That should never be dismissed.
I love the end credits. Seriously, what's up with his hairline, bro?
Interesting note: When Lunella is searching for a date she notices a girl seems currently unattached. This suggest Lunella is bisexual. Thought that moment was cool and worth pointing out.
Why can't more kids show actually have good messaging for kids? ****1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Family Matters"
The cliffhanger is great because it's actually earned. Take note other superhero stuff. This is how that's done.
I've actually heard of Silvermane.
Eminently satisfying episode. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "The Molecular Level"
Good for the show for not buying back the cliffhanger in the first scene.
I love Lunella redeeming Molecule Man. I also found his observation that she was the only thing the Beyonder cared about very interesting. I was sad he didn't appear when Lunella needed him. Maybe because she actually didn't.
Uncertain ending there for Lunella's future. Or is it? Will Mom come around? She'd be crazy if she didn't. ****.
SparkShorts "Self"
I'm going to go off on a bit of a rant here, and it's this unfortunate, "harmless" life-affirming short that gets my ire. Tough break. It could have happened the Pixar review before this. It could have happened several reviews from now. This happened to be the moment I said, "Enough".
I think exploring social issues in animation is a wonderful idea. Which Disney and Pixar have utterly run into the ground and ruined for me. Dramatic shorts used to have SUCH an impact, and tug at the heartstrings so much because they were rare and unusual. This is literally every Pixar and Disney Studios shorts now. Almost none of them even have dialogue. If I were tackling a serious subject matter, the last thing I'd want is for the viewer to find it cliched or run into the ground. I don't want people to find anti-racist subject matter boring. But Disney has given us SO much of this "Nice Thing" it's stopped being "Nice" and turned "Dreadful".
Disney used to be The House Of Mouse. Now it is The House Of The Depressed Prozac Blob. What the hell has happened to this company? And Pixar, man? Their shorts used to be fun and dynamite! Why should I appreciate a cartoon series that does nothing but make me feel bad?
I have prejudices. I have to work on them. Kids have prejudices and need to be taught right and wrong young. This is an overcorrection here. It wouldn't be if it weren't EVERY last short. Because it is I have to speak up. I never wanted to.
Do you know what it is? Manipulative. I sure as hell didn't give Forrest Gump a pass for that crap and I won't give it to Pixar either. Can you believe the studio that sicced John Lasseter's grossness onto the world and called it childlike whimsy has the GALL to pretend it truly cares about diversity and love? It is to LAUGH. Do they give out Academy Awards for raging insincerity and hypocrisy? Pixar would dominate the field. For Your Consideration...
SparkShorts and Short Circuit were designed to supposedly give new animators license to try new and experimental things. And all they do is tell the same damn story over and over again. I'll say this: This does not fill me with hope about Disney's Next Generation. It fills me with kind of a sick dread.
Grr! I'm not that Anti-Woke Guy. I'm an Anti-Everything-Is-Always-The-Same Guy. Where is the variety we were promised? I feel robbed and at this point angry. 0.
Quantum Leap "Off The Cuff"
It was pretty good. The action scenes were tight and Kevin was kind of a funny guest character.
I still hate the love quadrangle though. ***1/2.
Quantum Leap "The Family Treasure"
I think it was dreadful.
Quantum Leap used to often feel like an Afterschool Special. This was just that piled on top of that at the end.
So maybe Tom isn't evil. Which means the Love Triangle is bad for the opposite reason: It means Addison is using and hurting HIM for the crime of being introduced in the second season.
It amazes me how bad fiction is with this sort of thing. What especially amazes me is that fans tolerate it instead of raising a stink. And I don't mean the usual "Aw, Tom's wrecking Baddison!" I'm talking about people who actually know love triangles are used by shows that have run out interesting things to say and do with their romantic leads. It's especially troubling it hit Quantum Leap in season 2. I really wish people understood how bad this is for narrative fiction, and more, I wish they understood they deserve better. This will probably upset people. But not for the right reasons. And I think if fans correctly articulated that the trope is used by desperate shows running out of gas, maybe showrunners would be less inclined to make it their go-to instead. There are other ways to make a TV show interesting. It's amazing none of current TV understands that.
This sucks. *.
Night Court "A Crime Of Fashion"
I could tell by the studio audience applause the guy was from The Big Bang Theory.
I don't have much commentary this week, but it was not terrible. ***1/2.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit "Duty To Report"
I don't know how to feel about that. On some level that's good. But man, a LOT of stuff happened that pissed me off. It's such a pleasant surprise at the positive place the episode left things off on. I kept thinking the SVU department was getting out of control.
McGrath has been running roughshod all over the series ever since he replaced Garland. His wife accuses Liv of trying to get him fired to take his job, because that is EXACTLY what he did to the competent and empathetic Garland. It was obscene. And seeing this jackass in the role he took from a compassionate Black man, as he steamrolls through the squad every week, and jeopardizes every investigation was painful to me. I think the season where Demore Barnes was a series regular was probably the series high point for me. It addressed unfairness in policing practices. The McGrath turn I believe happened when the producers realized nothing actually was going to change after George Floyd, and NYPD was gonna dig in, and things would get worse, not better. That's how we got McGrath. But I remember the hopefulness of Garland telling Finn he believed they were at "an inflection point" and that's why that remained my favorite season.
Curry, investigating Liv was a big part of that. The thing I dug most about Curry is she made Liv understand something I think most white liberals are unable to admit or process: Having racial bias is not something to be defensive about or deny. It's ingrained in all of us. And it's not just white people. Liv refused to entertain the notion that her actions in that episode were based on race, when yeah, they were. Maybe not consciously, and maybe not intentionally. But I admired Curry for putting the idea in a white ally's head that just because they are an ally doesn't mean they don't have privilege that blinds them sometimes. Many white allies are SO against racism that to even suggest they themselves have those biases gets a stronger pushback than warranted. I think everyone has problems there. For some reason white allies have a VERY strong hang-up about it, and definitely are far more defensive about it than the situation calls for. And Curry's chill. And I'll enjoy her in the SVU. And the idea that they can clear cases without McGrath looking over their shoulder is fun.
In the early seasons of SVU IAB were the bad guys. Around the time Garland came aboard, and Curry was introduced, they became the good guys. Back in the day they used to accuse detectives of things they were NOT guilty of when reprimanding them for things that they were, which led the viewer believe the "rat squad" was corrupt itself and looking to railroad good cops. And God bless the show for changing both the function of IAB on the show and their role in the narrative.
I felt very unhappy that McGrath was given the scene of grace at the end he was where he shook Liv's hand. It very much felt like the show was saying this is his last episode and wanted his actor (who has been on the show a few years) a little dignity and a nice last scene. But that and Liv earlier saying she respected him grated at me. Him threatening to kill a suspect could sustain an IAB plot lasting half a season. Pulling on a gun on his neighbor in front of Liv? I'm tired of people like McGrath getting where they have gotten in the NYPD. Liv? He is NOT a good cop. Not remotely. Good cops don't do that. And doesn't that make you wonder what crap he pulled on the force when people like Liv WEREN'T watching? McGrath has been messing up the rhythm of Law & Order's most delicate squadroom with his buffoonery. Last episode or not, I don't like him ever getting those kinds of compliments from Liv.
I would love it if eventually Garland came back, but it's possible Demore Barnes left the show because HE wanted to move on. But when he was Chief the show was working on every level. No matter happens next, McGrath being gone will help, and Curry being on the squad will help a LOT. I think the episode both HAD a lot of problems and it SOLVED a lot of problems. It annoyed me, but the show will be better off in the long run for the things that happened in it. ****.
Law & Order: Organized Crime "The Last Supper"
This would have made a good crossover. Not with SVU, but American Dad. I can totally picture Roger Smith punctuating each scene with a thunder sheet while flicking the lights on and off while saying "Drama!" I feel like the episode is missing something from Roger's absence here.
Good God, the Stabler dinner. To find out the brother ratted out the father made me like him. The REASON he did it, and the fact that Elliot was too dumb to know ANY of this, made me love him. Their scene at the end making up was great. Story for another day? Elliot's father must have committed suicide.
The girl in the episode was pissing me off but it turns out the son had his own problems too. I will say this: All three of the witnesses in protective custody survived. I think the Bureau had SO many outstanding cautions in place to make sure they did even if the daughter messed up I was impressed. And it makes the fact that literally every single time a witness is placed into protective custody on the relaunched mothershow, the incompetent detectives always wind up getting them killed. I guess the real reason I dropped Rick Eid's version of Law & Order is because it's so clearly inferior to SVU and this show in easily measurable and quantifiable ways, there's really no reason to keep watching it while I have these shows.
"Drama!" *****.
Billy Summers by Stephen King
It's a rare novel that King seems to be writing in a voice other than his own. He's usually not able to do that. Most of his first person and third person narrators sound like variations of him. Billy doesn't narrate much of the book besides the chapters he writes, but when King writes from his perspective in the third person, the writing becomes simpler, somewhat childish, and detailed-oriented, specifically precautions a criminal would take that regular people would never notice. Some of it is no doubt paranoia and overcorrection, but the bad guys WERE really out to get him, weren't they? Probably why he got as far as he did.
I like his friendship with Bucky. I especially like that Bucky asks Alice if Billy really called him a bad man. He's sounds disappointed, but the thing is, it's true, and something Alice needed to hear.
As he's gotten older King has gotten a lot less gross in his writing. 20 years ago Billy and Alice would have consummated things as some sort of middle-aged wish fulfillment on King's end. He properly has Billy set the correct boundaries instead.
What Billy does to Tripp is not something I find remotely acceptable or any kind of justice. That is one thing there can never be "an eye for an eye" about.
King Connections: The ruins of the Overlook Hotel from The Shining can be seen and it's mentioned it was haunted. Billy and Alice stop in Hemingford Home, Nebraska. Another young woman near her age ALSO named Alice Maxwell was a main character in the novel "Cell". It's possible this novel's Alice is her Twinner on a different level of the Dark Tower, although the timelines might not match up (even though the exact year "Cell" was set was never specified).
I think King did a relatively poor job with simple hard-boiled prose in "Mr. Mercedes". "Billy Summers" is more successful there. ****.
A Face In The Crowd / The Longest December
A turn-around hardcover double-pack of a novella from Stephen King and Steward O'Nan, and one from Richard Chizmar, from Cemetery Dance Publications. Overall: ***.
A Face In The Crowd by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan
The problem with this short story is that the main character Evers is SUCH an unlikable jerk. The only thing he did in the story I liked was telling Kaz they should have been nicer to Lester or left him alone.
It's a shortish novella, but it's not very good. You want a GOOD King / O'Nan team-up, read the nonfiction book "Faithful". **1/2.
The Longest December (Expanded Version) by Richard Chizmar
It's a pretty fast and interesting read, but the truth is it ends too suddenly and I feel unsatisfied with the lack of closure. It reminds me of the Stephen King novella "A Good Marriage", only King's version satisfied me. I enjoy reading it but I don't like where it leaves off. A weak ending can ruin an otherwise strong story. ***.
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
It's a charming as hell book. King doesn't do enough fantasy for my liking, or at least not fantasy that isn't as ghastly as "The Dark Tower" was in places. This one, like "The Eyes Of The Dragon", is a real crowdpleaser. Unlike "The Eyes Of The Dragon" it's adults only. Which is fine.
Charlie Reade, the protagonist, narrates the book himself, and I mentioned in the review for "Billy Summers" that most of King's male viewpoint characters sound exactly like him, no matter their age. And yes, that's true for Charlie too. I don't know if that a storytelling weakness per se. Let's just call it a consistency.
I love Charlie's devotion to Radar. And despite the fantasy trappings here, the King story this REALLY reminds me of is "Mr. Harrigan's Phone". Bowditch is a far more contemptible character than Harrigan was, but in fairness to this book, once Harrigan exits his story, I lose interest. When Bowditch exits his is when the fun begins.
I like the fact that Charlie acknowledges that his deeds and actions make him seem like a prototypical boy adventure hero, and he reminds the reader that he has done some terrible things no hero should ever do, to explain the heartless but righteous choices he is forced to make as the story goes along. If Charlie were a better person, he'd probably be dead. His inner demons were the thing that kept him alive in the worst of those situations.
King Connections: KIND of weird one. "Cujo" is mentioned as a film (which isn't unusual). But besides the "other worlds than these" shtick, the references to "The Dark Tower" get kind of murky when Charlie claims his father learned the expression "Long days and pleasant nights," from a book. I was like "What the Keystone Earth?!" Also Inside View, although that one is pretty much as much of a gimme, as Castle Rock, Derry, and Hemingford Home.
King writes good books often but satisfying books less often. I think the push for the fairytale happy ending is probably what made him go the extra mile for a satisfying conclusion. And as a person who loves satisfying endings, and believes fiction doesn't deliver enough of them, that makes me happy.
Pretty cool book by Sai King. ****1/2.
Gwendy's Final Task by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
Worth it. Totally worth it.
I'll tell you where Stephen King messed up. And it's a biggie. But the cool thing is I can just pretend he didn't. It's ambiguous enough to be left open to interpretation. But Richard Farris (R.F.) was originally designed to be one of Randall Flagg's MANY aliases. As this book came to pass King decided that because Farris needed to be on the side of The White after all, R.F. is just a meaningless coincidence.
It's like King doesn't understand his own damn canon.
"There are other worlds than these". The idea that there are levels of the Dark Tower where Randall Flagg / Walter O'Dim / Marten Broadcloak's Twinner is on the side of angels is built into the premise of Kingverse Multiverse! And it's a wonderful and interesting premise that King himself should have leapt at. Somewhere out there exists a GOOD Randall Flagg to balance out the bad one! It's a perfect idea, and just because King lacks the wisdom to use it, doesn't mean I won't pretend it's true. Nothing disproves the theory here, and in fact the hands without lines and Gwendy touching him feeling bad feeds into it.
I recently wrote an essay bemoaning how bad fan suggestions were. But we are HELLA good at Marvel No-Prize-level excuses / rationalizations for clear mistakes. Creators: Maybe don't listen to us for suggestions about future projects. But we're totally willing to clean up messes for you in hindsight. You don't even have to ask. Or pay us. We'll do it automatically and for free. Because fandom isn't ENTIRELY worthless.
I think my biggest damn objection to the book is that King's politics already feel dated, especially for a book set in 2026. I grant that Gwendy's Magic Feather and the pyramids things proves this doesn't exist on Keystone Earth. But the politics feel wrong for the age of Trump too. King has always been a well-meaning liberal, but his understanding of politics is very basic. Maine is a blue state at the state level. A MAGA Republican could not get elected Senator there in the 2010's. Granted Former Governor Paul LePage was pretty extreme, but he didn't win the majority of vote either time, and squeaked by twice solely due to a third party spoiler. I think King lives in a VERY conservative area of Maine which leads him to believe the state is redder than is. Yes Trump got one of Maine's electoral votes twice. But he still decisively lost the state based on vote percentages. Both times. I think King is under the mistaken impression he state is more Republican than it is. King should spend less time in diners chatting up folks in red hats and maybe look at the voter trends on 538.com.
Speaking of voting trends, King's political prognostication is poor on every level. He predicts that Trump's election was a conservative realignment instead of blip, but Democrats have won most of the major elections since then (outside of Virginia's governorship in 2021). He also suggests the Vice-President in 2026 is male, well-meaning, and stupid. I will concede it's possible (and maybe probable) that in 2026 the Vice-President will be one of those things (or worst case scenario two). Them being ALL of those things is freaking unlikely. Plus, remember the crazy president from Magic Feather? If Bill Clinton was never elected, it's possible Roe V Wade was already overturned, and Trump never could have gotten elected at ALL. King never seems to think about or plot out nuances like this when it comes to alternate universes and histories. His doomsday scenario in 11/22/63 sounds horrifying, but unlikely in the recent living memory of WWII and Hiroshima. Chizmar should know better about this stuff too.
I guess as someone on the left, I always am fascinated by how many of the people on my side of the aisle misread the cultural mood and get things wrong. I think we tend to believe we are always in worse shape than we actually are. I'm just saying it would be nice if the speculative politics or a book set in 2026 would seem credible back in 2023 when this book was released, much less 2024 when I wrote this review. I know political prognostication is tough work but it's hard to believe somebody is THIS far off even two years before it happens.
I guess the fact that this ISN'T Keystone Earth raises even MORE questions beside just the politics. If this isn't Keystone Earth (and it isn't) why does the Tet Corporation exist? Sombra too? I was never crazy that 11/22/63 retconned the idea that Derry was a healing town after the Loser killed IT for good in 1986 and suggested the two itself was perceived as gross and obscene by any outsider who visited. But I rolled with it because that bit WAS set in the early 1960's way before IT was truly vanquished. The clown supposedly still being around in 2026 suggests one of two things: Ben Hanscomb missed one of the eggs. I find the notion unlikely, although "Dreamcatcher" and "The Tommyknockers" lend SOME weight to the idea. More likely on this level of the Dark Tower, the Loser failed, IT killed them all, and never went away. That is both likelier and easier for me to accept. There was no part of IT's ending that was remotely acceptable. The idea that they didn't get Pennywise after all? Won't accept that retcon for a second.
Also sloppy is suggesting Gwendy's second Congressional term takes place in 2003. "Gwendy's Magic Feather" (which details her first term) takes place in the mid-1990's. Robin Furth should have caught this even though Magic Feather was written by Chizmar alone.
King Connections: "IT" and "The Dark Tower". Final book in the Gwendy trilogy. Dark Score Lake is from "Bag Of Bones". R.F. (Counting it Uncle Stevie, and you can't stop me). Castle Rock. Norris Ridgewick was introduced in "Needful Things". A lot of the Can-Tois' and the cars' backstory can be learned in "Low Men In Yellow Coats" and "From A Buick 8".
I love a book that I can both nitpick, and come up with alternate explanations for seeming mistakes. And Gwendy Peterson is SUCH an appealing character for me I'm willing to go that extra mile on her behalf. Not everything is gonna line up perfectly in my headcanon here. But for a LOT of it, I'm willing to move some stuff around. It's all clutter to me anyways. ****1/2.
